'I would have quit over dossier'

Prime Minister Tony Blair has finished giving evidence to the Hutton inquiry, in which he said he would have had to quit if the "sexed up" dossier claims had been true.

Giving evidence into the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly, he further admitted concern had been expressed about the pressure being placed on the weapons expert. However he claimed there was no way of keeping the information private.

Mr Blair was first asked about Andrew Gilligan's report on the dossier aired on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on May 29.

He told the inquiry that he was visiting British troops in Basra on the morning of May 29 when he was told about Mr Gilligan's report.

Asked his reaction, the Prime Minister said: "It was an extraordinary allegation to make and an extremely serious one."

Contentious

Mr Blair said three aspects of the report had stood out as being contentious: that the 45-minute claim (that Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of an order being given) had been inserted at the behest of Number 10; that it had been done knowing the claim to be wrong; and that it was included against the wishes of the intelligence services.

"It is one thing to say we disagree with the Government, we should not have gone to war, people can have a disagreement about that ... but if the allegation had been true, it would have merited my resignation."

Concern

Mr Blair said that No 10's concern deepened when the Mail on Sunday published an article by Mr Gilligan in which it was suggested that Downing Street communications chief Alastair Campbell was responsible for the insertion of the 45-minute claim.

The Prime Minister said that the use of Mr Campbell's name meant the story was "no longer a small item".

He said: "Ever since then that's been the issue and here we are three months on and it is still the issue."